In vehicles such as automobiles equipped with an internal combustion engine, various kinds of electrical equipment are energized at the time of engine starting. Initially, the starter is driven to crank the engine. During the cranking of the engine, fuel is supplied to a combustion chamber of the engine. When engine starting is complete, the engine starts operating in a self-supporting manner. After this self-supporting operation starts, the driving of the starter is stopped.
As internal combustion engines in vehicles, for example, compression-ignited internal combustion engines including diesel engines are used. In these engines, to improve the ignition performance and the combustion characteristics of fuel during a predetermined period from engine starting to the completion of engine starting, a glow plug is provided in the combustion chamber. The glow plug produces heat when energized by power supply from a battery. The glow plug is energized during a glow period, i.e., a predetermined period from engine starting to the completion of engine starting.
Regarding the glow plug, abnormalities such as continued energization of the plug or failure of energization of the plug occur. To address this, in Patent Document 1, the battery is charged to an appropriate charged state via the power generation by an alternator. Thus, when the glow plug is changed between the energized state and the de-energized state, the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug is determined based on the amount of variation in the power output of the alternator. In the case when continued energization of the plug or failure of energization of the plug occurs, the variation in the power output of the alternator is small. Thus, if it is determined that the variation is not more than a reference value, the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug may be determined. The reference value is a value set for determining the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug. More specifically, if the variation is the reference value or less, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the glow plug.
As described above, it is desirable for the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug to be determined based on the condition that the power output of the alternator is within a predetermined appropriate range. This is because the determination of the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug can not be performed accurately when the power output of the alternator is abnormal. The appropriate range is, for example, a range from a lower limit A to an upper limit B, wherein the lower limit A is the value that is greater than the minimum value of the power output of the alternator by a predetermined amount and the upper limit B is the value that is smaller than the maximum value of the power output by a predetermined amount.
Concerning change of the glow plug between the energized state and the de-energized state for determining the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug, the change of the glow plug from the energized state to the de-energized state occurs at the time the glow period ends after completion of engine starting (after the engine starts operating in a self-supporting manner) and is preferably used. This is because the engine operates in a self-supporting manner such as idling when the glow period ends and energization of the various kinds of electrical equipment remains unchanged, which is different from at the time of engine starting, whereby the power output of the alternator is unlikely to be unstable.
Regarding variation in the power output of the alternator when the glow plug is changed from the energized state to the de-energized state, both the reactivity of the glow plug and the amount of the variation are smaller than in the case where the glow plug is changed from the de-energized state to the energized state. The reason for this is as follows. When the glow plug is changed from the de-energized state to the energized state, greater electro motive force is required to bring the glow plug, which was cold in the de-energized state, into the energized state, whereby the variation becomes greater than the case where the glow plug is changed from the de-energized state to the energized state accordingly. Therefore, if the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug is determined based on the amount of the variation in the power output of the alternator when the glow plug is changed from the energized state to the de-energized state only, such determination is not necessarily accurate.
To address this problem, if it is determined that an abnormality is present in the glow plug based on the fact that the amount of variation in the power output of the alternator, in accordance with the change of the glow plug from the energized state to the de-energized state, is not more than the reference value at the timing immediately after the end of the glow period, the determination that an abnormality is present in the glow plug is not affirmed immediately, but it is determined that there is a possibility of an abnormality in the glow plug. Then, based on this determination, the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug may be determined again. More specifically, after the glow period ends, the glow plug is energized temporarily. Then, it is determined if the variation in the power output of the alternator during the energization is not more than the reference value. If the determination is affirmative, it is affirmed that that an abnormality has occurred in the glow plug. Thus, the presence of an abnormality is affirmed. This re-determination of the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug improves the accuracy of the previous determination that an abnormality is present in the glow plug. This re-determination process is also performed based on the condition that the power output of the alternator is within a predetermined appropriate range.
Meanwhile, in the case where the battery has deteriorated, the power output of the alternator has a tendency to increase and it is possible that the power output will exceed the upper limit B of the appropriate range when the energization of the glow plug starts, even if the power output is within the appropriate range at the time when the glow period ends, whereby re-determination of the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug may fail. Particularly, in the case where the power output of the alternator is near the upper limit B of the appropriate range at the time when the glow period ends, it is highly possible that the power output will exceed the upper limit B of the appropriate range when the energization of the glow plug starts. The reason for this is that when the glow plug is changed from the de-energized state to the energized state, greater electro motive force is required to bring the glow plug, which was cold in the de-energized state, into the energized state, whereby the power output of the alternator increases accordingly.
As described above, re-determination of the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug fails if the power output of the alternator exceeds the upper limit B of the predetermined range when the glow plug is temporarily energized to perform the re-determination. For the reason that the determination that there is a possible abnormality in the glow plug may be performed but the re-determination of the presence of an abnormality in the glow plug cannot be performed, the determination of the presence of an abnormality may be impossible even when an abnormality has actually occurred in the glow plug.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-115641